Thirty-four companies sought to raise capital and list on the Australian Securities Exchange (ASX) in early August.

And some larger initial public offerings (IPO) have finally emerged in recent weeks, after the IPO market for larger companies came to a virtual standstill in the first half of 2011.

IPO conditions are still weak overall, and at this rate the market could struggle to beat the $2 billion raised during the global financial crisis (GFC) unless there is a rush of fourth-quarter IPOs.

Only $528 million was raised through IPOs in the first half of 2011 and more prominent floats, such as mining services group Barminco, were withdrawn because of lacklustre investor interest.

Larger companies pushing ahead with IPOs have had to scale back their offers.

More than half of all current IPOs have "to be advised" listing dates, usually a sign they are struggling to meet their minimum subscription or attract enough shareholders to meet ASX listing requirements.

Still, the second half of 2011 looks considerably stronger for IPOs than the first half, when shipping container and storage group Royal Wolf Holdings was the only float of note.
 
Collins Food Group, the largest IPO so far this year, raised $201 million and was expected to list on 4 August.

Shares in the owner of Queensland KFC and Sizzler restaurants were priced at $2.50 each at the low end of Collins's indicative pricing range of $2.50 to $2.92.

Nevertheless, closing an IPO for a private-equity-backed retail business in this market is a solid achievement and a sign that small-cap fund managers and retail investors will still back industrial floats at the right price.

Another larger float is for Tigers Realm Coal, which has Owen Hegarty, who is best known for building Oxianna Resources into a $6-billion mineral explorer over eight years, on its board.

Tigers Realm has coking coal assets in Russia and Colombia, and its offer was scaled back from more than $250 million to $45 million, even though coal IPOs have been popular this year.

The company was arguably a hard sell, given its core assets are in emerging markets and still in the early development phase. It is due to list on 17 August.

Bega Cheese is getting closer to raising its planned $35 million. It was expected to close its offer this week and is due to list on 29 August.

Valued on a price-earnings multiple of 16.9 times, the cheese maker has had its share of IPO detractors who believe it is fully priced.

Bega's valuation was reportedly scaled back from earlier estimates above $300 million to $250 million, showing even household-name small IPOs are struggling to attract retail investors at a higher price.

Among other larger floats, Lemur Resources had little trouble closing its $25-million IPO to develop coal projects in Madagascar.

Mogul Resources stands out with a $7.5-million offer to develop copper and gold projects in India. Most remaining IPOs are for junior resource companies.